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Health
Egypt and anthrax
With fear of anthrax poisoning rapidly becoming the world's scare of the moment, Cairo has caught the bug. The papers all report the Ministry of Health's extensive plans to prevent and contain any outbreaks. Specialized hospitals are equipped with the necessary treatments, reports Al-Ahram. According to Reuters, Egypt's first reported anthrax scare was "a parcel containing a powder sent to a foreign bank in Cairo and opened by an Egyptian employee... [but] Checks showed the substance was harmless."
In an interesting side-bar to the anthrax issue, Health Scout news reports -- in a question and answer session about the disease -- that "Anthrax was described 3,500 years ago and may have been to blame for two of the plagues of Egypt in 1491 B.C."
Movies
Festival makes itself affordable
The Cairo International Film Festival -- currently taking place in 10 cinemas around town as well as the Opera House's main hall -- has decided to reduce ticket prices from LE15 to LE10. This year's festival -- its 25th round -- features 167 films from 44 countries. To read a first-hand account of the festival's glamorous opening night, and see a bevy of photos from the event, click here
Tourism
Searching for solutions
Hotel prices are being drastically brought down in a bid to help encourage tourism, which has experienced quite a blow worldwide in the aftermath of both the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York, and the subsequent strikes on Afghanistan. Ahmed El-Nahhas, president of the Egyptian Hotel Association, said member hotels had agreed to bring down four star rates in Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh and Cairo from LE250 half board to just LE120. Hotels will also be channeling much of their marketing energies towards the Arab markets, El-Nahhas said, where there is more likelihood for demand at this time.
Take a look at the mood at a recent Travel Fair in Cairo here.
Television
Live isn't always best
The TV Union's gaffe last week -- broadcasting archive news footage of terror attacks in Egypt in the 90s as if they were live -- have resulted in a general shaking of heads. Al-Akhbar's front page reports that Italian tour groups cancelled their bookings to Egypt after seeing the footage, which was part of an investigative series on the history of terrorism, but was apparently broadcast without removing the "Live" banner that appeared on the screen, or indicating in any way that the footage was not live.
The broadcasts resulted in a Cairo awash in rumors -- that there had been an assassination attempt on a top official, that the Egyptian museum had been attacked, etc, all passed along from person to person not taking into account that the source was the infamous TV broadcast. At the TV Union itself, a change of the guard was immediately announced. The next day Al-Ahram reported that TV head Mervat Ragab was replaced with Zeinab Sweidan, and Ragab was made a consultant.
Writing in Al-Wafd, Magdi Mehanna sees more to blame in the speed by which the rumors spread. He says it reflects an essential problem in society which must be addressed.
Did you like this article? Send your comments to comments@cairolive.com
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